GENDER AND LANGUAGE

Gender and language



Gender and language

Introduction

Sexism is the foremost problem in modern society. Feminists pointed out that women are oppressed by language, but the male dominated language. As a result, the word “you guys” has become more widely accepted as an informal. The language is evolving, and now “guys” is an unbiased word used for both men and women. Those people who considered themselves as feminists who carefully choose “she or he”, used restaurant server, chairperson, and flight attendant and avoided language specific to gender are quite satisfied and willing to accept “guys” as a gender neutral as if it is very generic (Hugh, 2005).

Thesis Statement

“We should learn proper formal English, but not some prevalence spontaneous phrases”.

Merriam Wester's collegiate dictionary which is the current dictionary states that “guys” is a word that can be used to address members of the group regardless of their sex, but it is also said that dictionaries are not apolitical (Engelhardt, 2009). This issue has deeply embedded in the literary theory of gender. Although English could use a gender-neutral term to refer to a group of people, calling women as ”guys” makes femaleness invisible. Therefore, I believe that English is gravely biased towards women. In part, there is a huge difference in language between male and female; these differences will significantly increase communication problems because, we sometimes misunderstand the opposite sex (Austin, 2005). Nowadays, languages are most likely molded by males in our society. Thus, it is the result of “gender inequality” and “sexism in language”. It is essential for us to reconstruct our gender role and equalize the positions of men and women.

As a male, I personally do not agree that addressing female as “guys” is a fault. People always claimed that the word 'guys' encompasses both genders. People always use it as a hasty word, or even vernacular, in our daily life without paying attention to the meaning of the word “guys”; they treat it as a prevalence phrase. Oppositely, can you imagine someone calls a man as a “gal”? We do use the word “girl”, a gender-specific phrase, to indicate the gender we are trying to state; however, “guys” can be either male or female. Is that a literary language or colloquial phrase? During the eighteenth century, people started to reinforce the idea of Feminism (Bergvall, 2006). The majority of women, who work today, proofed the politicians' effort.

The concept ...